Educational Session Schedule

Life on the Farm  will be a panel discussion moderated by Gregory Sharrow, Program Director at the Vermont Folklife Center in Middlebury, VT.  Senior members of the local farm community will tell of their life experiences, recall the many changes that have occurred during their working lifetimes, and their visions for the future.

Wild for Vermont: Preparing Spring Edibles from Woodlands and Waterways is a session that will be hosted by three aficionados of wild food, Tom Bivins, Les Hook, and Nova Kim. They will tell you where you can find fresh foraged greens and early spring edibles. You will also learn about proper preparation methods. Tom Bivins, a Bethel resident, is executive chef of the New England Culinary Institute and Les Hook & Nova Kim are from Wild Organics of Albany, VT.

Heirloom Vegetables: Sharing Stories of Seasons and Seeds. As recently as 70-years-ago, the diets and activities of many rural Vermonters were shaped by the seasons and what they needed to do to
feed themselves.  Today, many people are returning to the practices of eating seasonally, root cellaring, and saving their own seed because of a desire to conserve older varieties and reduce dependence on petrochemicals. In this workshop, Ginger Nickerson will explore the significance of particular heirloom varieties for Vermont communities in the past, and Rebecca Beidler and Jeffrey Ellis will share stories about eating seasonally and saving seeds today. Seeds will be shared so you can experiment with heirloom varieties on your own!